Contents

Characteristics

Tanda is not considered a particularly clever[3] or attractive woman.[4]

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

In a meeting with Eddard Stark, Lord Petyr Baelish claims that he is on his way to dine with Lady Tanda and discuss a possible match with her daughter Lollys. According to Littlefinger, Lady Tanda's meals are always very rich as inducement and he is looking forward to lamprey pie and roast sucking pig. However, he admits that he'd rather marry the pig than Lollys but asks Eddard not to share this with Lady Tanda.[5] In a later meeting between the two, Lord Baelish again mentions being on his way to dine with Lady Tanda. This time he expects to be served fatted calf and he mocks that, if the calf is half as fatted as Lollys, he will likely rupture and die.[6]

In another meeting with Eddard after King Robert's death, Lord Baelish says that there is small love lost between Renly Baratheon and the Lannisters, naming Lady Tanda in this context as a possible supporter for a coup.[7]

She starts hounding Tyrion Lannister the minute he arrives at the Red Keep, trying to coax him during lavish meals to marry Lollys. Tyrion repeatedly tries to dodge her invitations.[9][10]

Varys informs Tyrion Lannister about a small supper held by her the night before and hands him the guest list for inspection, also mentioning that, when Lord Gyles Rosby raised to lift the cup to the King, Ser Balon Swann remarked mockingly that they'll need three cups for that, making many guests laugh. Tyrion dismisses this incidence as insignificant.[11]

As supplies are getting short in King's Landing during the War of the Five Kings, Lady Tanda's and Lord Gyles' lands provide half of the food still arriving as they lie close to the city to the north and are still untouched by war.[10]

She and Lollys are part of the procession to see Princess Myrcella off to Dorne. When the mob goes mad in the streets of King's Landing, she is saved by Ser Horas Redwyne, but her daughter is not as lucky and left behind. Lady Tanda is half crazed about her fate when those who escaped reach the Red Keep and she begs the King's men to locate her daughter. It turns out that Lollys has survived, but became victim of a gang rape behind a tanner's shop in which 50 men participated.[12]

Tyrion and Varys discuss options for bringing Shae to the Red Keep without Queen Cersei becoming aware of it, with Tyrion suggesting that Shae could work in the kitchen. Varys raises a couple of objections and then mentions that he knows that the maidservant attending Lollys has been filching jewels from her, pointing out that Lady Tanda would be forced to dismiss the girl if he informs her about this, opening a position for Shae. Tyrion likes the idea of Shae working for Lollys, in particular as Cersei considers Lady Tanda tedious and hysterical and her daughter dim-witted and thus isn't likely to pay them any friendly calls where she could meet Shae.[13]

She attends the installation of Ser Balon Swann and Ser Osmund Kettleblack as new members of the Kingsguard in the castle sept. Tyrion is disappointed that Lollys is not accompanying her mother, as he had hoped that would give him a glimpse of Shae. He remembers that Shae had asked whether she can bring along a few of her pieces of garment embroidered with jewelry to her new position and he had objected to the suggestion, thinking that, though Landy Tanda was not a clever woman at all, even she would wonder why her daughter's bedmaid has more jewelry than Lollys.[3]

After Tyrion has Lord Gyles intercepted when he, on Queen Cersei's order, tries to smuggle Prince Tommen out of King's Landing, Lady Tanda is apparently worried that her own request for leave to return to her castle would be rejected. She makes Cersei the gift of a pig, a rare sight in the starving city, and Cersei thinks it's meant as a bribe. As they dine on the pig, Tyrion and Cersei discuss the idea and Tyrion says he'd rather have Lady Tanda stay at the Red Keep and suggests that, if she wants to feel save, she should bring her own garrison to King's Landing.[14] Falyse brings a small number of soldiers from Stokeworth to King's Landing the day before the battle.[15]

During the Battle of the Blackwater, Lady Tanda stays in the Red Keep with her two daughters and they are invited by Queen Cersei to seek refuge with her in the Queen's Ballroom at Maegor's Holdfast. Sansa Stark runs into them on her way there and realizes that she can't avoid them, observing how Falyse tries to coax a resistent Lollys onto the drawbridge leading to Maegor's Holdfast. Lady Tanda announces with a brittle voice that the battle has begun. When Sansa offers her assistance with Lollys, Lady Tanda flushes with shame and rejects the offer kindly, excusing Lollys' behavior by pointing out that she has not been feeling well, while Sansa knows of the rumors that Lollys is pregnant.[15] After a meal at the ballroom, she and her daughters, with others, ask for leave to go to the sept, which is granted by Cersei.[16]

Together with her daughters, she attends the presentation of heroes and captives in the throne room after Joffrey's forces have won the battle, and Sansa Stark notices that in their matching gowns of turquoise silk and vair even Lady Tanda and her daughters look pretty.[17]

A Storm of Swords

Upon Shae's advice, she hires Symon Silver Tongue to sing to Lollys to calm her when the baby starts kicking. When Shae asks Tyrion whether she could dress in her fine gowns and attend the wedding of King Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell, Tyrion objects and says that Lady Tanda might wonder where her daughter's bedmaid found so many jewels. Shae argues she'd find a covered spot and Lady Tanda wouldn't even see her among the thousand guests.[18]

Lady Tanda offers Lollys as wife for Tyrion to Lord Tywin Lannister. However, Lord Tywin wants Tyrion to marry Sansa Stark to assure Lannister influence in the north. When Tyrion objects, Lord Tywin says he will have to find him another wife then, raising Lady Tanda's offer in this context. Tyrion replies that he'd rather cut his penis off than marry Lollys.[19]

Shae mentions to Tyrion that Landy Tanda slips Lollys dreamwine. Shae again raises the idea of attending the royal wedding and Tyrion, increasingly worried about her safety, remembers that Varys told him that he gave Shae a false history when she was hired as maid for Lollys, but that it was only good enough to serve Lady Tanda and her daughter, suggesting that it would not hold up if Queen Cersei would start asking questions about it, as she is of a more suspicious mind.[20]

A guest at the wedding of Joffrey and Margaery, she gives the king a pair of supple riding boots.[21] She leaves the throne room while Joffrey is drawing his last breaths, meeting Sansa Stark as she flees. On noticing that Sansa is sobbing, she tells her: "You have a good heart, my lady. Not every maid would weep so for a man who set her aside and wed her to a dwarf. [...] The gods are cruel to take him so young and handsome, at his own wedding feast."[22]

Ser Bronn tells Tyrion that he's expected at Castle Stokeworth for dinner, revealing that he has been offered to marry Lollys. Tyrion, suspecting a plot by Cersei to get Bronn out of the way, points out that Lollys is pregnant from another man and that she won't even inherit Stokeworth when Lady Tanda dies; rather her elder sister Falyse would. However, Bronn isn't bothered by the baby and makes the ominous suggestion that Falyse might die before her mother. This makes Tyrion wonder whether Cersei has any notion of the kind of serpent she had given Lady Tanda to suckle, and if she even would care if she knew.[23]

A Feast for Crows

Lady Tanda remains at Stokeworth with her daughter, once Lollys becomes too pregnant to travel, transmitting her excuses to Cersei Lannister that she cannot attend Lord Tywin's wake via her daughter Falyse. She asks for permission to name Lollys' child after Lord Tywin, as she had been admiring him above all other men. Cersei strongly objects to the idea, telling Falyse that she does not want a bastard resulting from a gang rape to bear her father's name. Falyse is shocked about the fierceness of the rejection but her husband, Ser Balman Byrch, assures Cersei that he already told Lady Tanda as much and that they'll find a more suitable name for the child.[24]

She and her daughters do not attend the marriage of King Tommen and Margaery Tyrell, for which Cersei is grateful, as it spares her Lady Tanda's tearful embraces.[25]

Grand Maester Pycelle informs Cersei that Lady Tanda has sent news that Lollys has been delivered of a strong, healthy son and that the child's name is Tyrion. Lady Tanda insists that the choice was not hers but rather Ser Bronn's, Lollys' husband.[25]

While still at Stokeworth, Lady Tanda falls from her horse when her saddle girth bursts. She shatters her hip in the accident. A stable boy is chastised for this, as he should have seen that the strap was worn. Lady Tanda is attended by Maester Frenken, who is assuring her daughter Falyse that he does everything he can. However, when Queen Cersei inquires about the condition of Falyse's "dear, dear mother", Falyse suggests that there is little hope and that they have started praying for her. Thinking by herself, Cersei expects that Lady Tanda will be dead before the moon turns as women as old as her do not survive a broken hip. However, she assures Falyse that she would pray for Lady Tanda, too, also telling her that Lady Tanda is the sister she never had.[2]

Lady Tanda's condition at the time Falyse informs Cersei that her plot to kill Bronn has failed is not known. As Bronn has thrown Falyse out of Stokeworth after killing her husband and has styled himself "Lord Stokeworth", Falyse wonders what will become of her poor mother now. However, Cersei thinks that Lady Tanda might very well be dead already, as Bronn doesn't seem the man who would put much effort in nursing an old woman with a broken hip.[26]

Lady Tanda eventually dies from a chill brought on by her injury. When Cersei receives the news at a time when Lord Gyles Rosby lies dying as well, she thinks that it's good to still have Moon Boy around, as the court would otherwise be completely bereft of fools.[27]